Hot Buttered Popcorn Cake

By Ross Sveback, August 21, 2012

I’ve been working on an magazine spread titled ‘Night In at the Movies’ where I am featuring iconic foods from movies and frankly was inspired to create this version after my mother’s recipe for popcorn cake. Her recipe varied slightly by using gumdrops, which I frankly do not care for and was not iced. I wanted to amplify the buttered popcorn taste by adding in Hot Buttered Popcorn Jelly Bellies, which I purchased online from their website and top the whole thing off by icing it with a pound of white chocolate. The end result is exactly what I had thought it would be in my mind. This is a nice iconic movie food, remixed in a way to impress anyone. On a side note, I mix all of this in one of those large pebbled-outside punch bowls from Party City – make the job easier to have a sufficient-sized bowl.

Prep a tube pan, I used a coffee cake pan by spraying it liberally with cooking spray to ensure easy release. Place the popped popcorn and Jelly Bellies into a large bowl, no need to stir as the Jelly Bellies sink to the bottom. Melt marshmallows and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat until marshmallows are almost melted. Remove from heat and stir until marshmallows have completely melted, then add vanilla bean paste. Pour over popcorn mixture and stir to combine. Lastly, sprinkly with sea salt and stir again to incorporate. Place into prepped tube pan and press down firmly to compact the cake. Allow to rest for two hours, then invert onto plate.

Melt white chocolate in a double boiler and when fully melted, remove from stove and using a spatula – drizzle chocolate over top of cake. Allow to sit until chocolate has cooled and set onto cake. Serve.